by Kate Bell
“Thanks! That’s my Mama’s recipe.”
Sarah was still staring at Thad and it was really starting to bug me. “Sarah, would you like some gravy?” I asked. She was a girl of few words and I was beginning to wonder if she ever talked.
She looked at me and smiled. “Yes, thank you.”
I handed over the gravy tureen and smiled back at her. I wanted a real conversation with the girl. “Sarah, what are you studying at school?”
“Comic Art,” Sarah said.
I looked at her. “What? What’s that?”
“It’s the study of comics as art. It’s also teaching technique,” she said.
“Comics? Like in the Sunday paper?” I asked, puzzled.
“Yes. But there are other sources of comics these days.”
I stared at her and then looked at Thad. He had a tiny smirk on his face. “Is she serious?” I asked him. Surely she had to be teasing me.
He nodded. “Comics have become very big since the advent of the Internet mom. You should check it out. You know, the Internet?”
I gave him the stink eye. “I’ve been to the Internet. I’m well acquainted with it, considering I write a blog.”
“Comic art is very important to our generation Mrs. McSwain,” Sarah explained. “We’ve lived all our lives surrounded by them, from comic books, to the Sunday comic pages, to art work to video games. Our society would not have evolved like it has if there were no comics.”
I stared at her. I didn’t think she knew that many words. And I was pretty sure society would have evolved just fine with out comics. It took all I had to keep from making a smart remark. “Really?” was all I could come up with that wouldn’t have been offensive at that point.
She nodded very seriously. “Just look at the advent and rise of Comic Con and all the resultant ‘cons’. It’s an important art form.”
I glanced at Alec and then at Lucy and Ed. Ed had so far remained silent and I thought he might be the smartest man in the room.
“I see,” I said to Sarah.
“Mom, you need to expand your horizons,” Thad said.
“I’ve heard of Comic Con,” Ed said, digging into a pile of mashed potatoes. “I’d like to go to one.”
“What kind of job are you looking at when you graduate, Sarah? Are you a junior, too?” I asked her.
“Well,” she said, pushing her glasses further up on her nose. She had blond hair with a streak of red on one side and a smattering of freckles on her nose. She was a cute girl, but she had me worried with this comic business. “I’m really thinking about adding Internet studies to my major. I want to create websites for the Post-millennial generation. And yes, I’m a junior just like Thad.”
I looked at Thad. Thad was majoring in criminal law. What was he doing with this girl? Maybe I was letting my age show, but it seemed highly improbable that she was going to make a living creating websites and comics for the Internet. She seemed intelligent, except for her decision on her college major.
“And what do your parents think of your college major?” I asked.
“They’re all for it,” she said with a smile.
I nodded. Of course they were.
I turned to Alec. “Are you going to be tied up with the investigation tomorrow?”
“I’m going to let the officers finish investigating the crime scene. I’ve been over it pretty thoroughly myself, but sometimes another pair or two of eyes will discover something I didn’t,” he answered. “I’ll probably go over it again later, after they do their part though. I’m kind of OCD that way.”
I smiled. “Good. Let’s go Black Friday shopping first thing in the morning.”
He chuckled. “I haven’t done that in years and as I recall, I never did enjoy it.”
“Good, it’s settled then,” I said, giving him a cheesy grin. Shopping was therapy for me and after the day I had had, I needed some therapy. Plus, the sales were always good on Black Friday.
--5--
“Hey!” I cried out as a teenage boy ran past me, hip-checking me as he went.
I heard Alec chuckle. “Well, you did want to go Black Friday shopping.”
I gave him a look, narrowing my eyes at him. “You get the best deals today. It’s worth a few bruises. But next time, can you trip whoever runs into me so at least they’ll get some bruises, too?”
“Oh, sure. No problem,” he said, leaning against the display of shoes. We were at Kohl’s and it was just after five AM. Most Nike’s were fifty percent off and I was going to get ten dollars in Kohl’s cash for every fifty dollars I spent. Believe me, it was worth the hassle to get running shoes that cheap. I planned on stocking up on them.
“You need to try some of these on. I’m sure you wear them out just as fast as I do.”
“Where would you propose I try them on?” he asked, looking around at the crowded shoe department.
He was right. The display was being swarmed by every runner and non-runner in the county. The benches to try shoes on were filled with bleary-eyed shoppers and open boxes and stray shoes lay all over the place.
I grabbed a cute pair of neon green and orange ones and sat on the floor next to him to try them on. “See? It’s not so hard,” I said, looking up at him.
He smirked. “Okay, let’s see,” he said, grabbing a pair in classic black with a white swoosh in a size twelve. He sat on the floor next to me and took his shoe off.
I stood up to get a feel of the new shoes I was trying on. They were a little tight, but the aisles were stuffed with people and I wasn’t sure I could get a look to see if I could find the same style in a half size larger. Instead I grabbed a pair of electric blue with a yellow swoosh and sat back down.
“Those are stylish,” he said looking at mine. “Maybe I should look for hot pink in my size?” He stood up and took a few steps to try and get a feel for the pair he had on.
“Good luck with that,” I said, slipping on the new shoe. It felt good. “I am determined to get at least three pairs of running shoes today.”
“I guess I should get a couple, too,” he said and got as close to the shelves as he dared. He reached over a teenaged boy to grab a box of shoes, only to have the kid turn and give him the evil eye.
“That’s mine,” the kid protested. He was on the small side and probably wasn’t much over five feet tall.
Alec looked at his feet. “Nice try, but maybe you could fill these in another ten years,” he said and came back to sit by me.
“Ouch,” I said.
Before he could sit down, Bob Payne came around the corner and nearly collided with him.
“Hey, look out!” Bob said, and then his eyes got big when he realized who it was that he had nearly run down.
“Excuse me?” Alec said, just as surprised to see Bob as Bob was to see him.
Bob frowned and huffed air out his mouth.
“Excuse me,” he said, and tried to go around Alec, but an elderly lady with a walker blocked his path.
“So Bob, I’m sorry to hear about Todd Spellman. I’m sure he’ll be missed,” I said. Todd Spellman had been Bob’s boss at the Bank of Maine. I figured since he was here, I may as well see if he had anything to say about what had happened the previous day. He had not been in attendance at the Turkey Trot since it wasn’t being held on a golf course, and golf was all he seemed to be interested in, but I figured he knew plenty about it by now.
“Oh? Are you? Because I’m sorry my mother had to spend Thanksgiving in jail, seeing as how the judge denied bail. Flight risk! She’s sixty-six years old!” he said, looking at me.
Bob’s mother had poisoned Diana Bowen at the Halloween bazaar and it sounded like she wasn’t enjoying jail very much.
“Oh, I’m sorry. But since she does own a house in Canada, it is conceivable that she might take a little trip. You know, for the holidays?” I pointed out. “I mean, she did confess to killing Diana Bowen, and she tried to kill Alec and me.”
Bob rolled his eyes at me. “She was
a little tipsy! She didn’t know what she was saying! And there weren’t any bullets in the gun she threatened you with,” he said, putting his hands on his hips. He looked a little feminine in that stance.
“Yes, well, when a gun’s pointing at you, you have to assume it has bullets,” Alec pointed out. “It’s a good thing I didn’t go for my gun, or your mother would have spent Thanksgiving in a completely different place.”
Bob looked at Alec and made a face. “Do you know that I had to take my two daughters down to that filthy place to visit with their grandmother for Thanksgiving? We had to tell them Grandma was at a spa and couldn’t come home. I was mortified when they searched all of us! They searched my six-year-old!”
I giggled. I couldn’t help it. Bob lived on another plane if he thought he could tell his daughters that the county lockup was a spa.
He gasped. “How dare you!”
“Okay, I’m sorry your little girls had to go through that. I really am. But it’s not like grandma is innocent, and eventually you are going to have to tell them the truth.”
“It’s none of your business,” he hissed, and tried to get around the little old lady, but she had stopped what she was doing to listen to our conversation and was effectively blocking Bob’s intended departure route.
“Bob, is there any chance you know anything about what happened with Todd?” Alec asked.
Bob was doing a little side-to-side dance with the little elderly lady mirroring his movements. He made a sound in his throat and then turned back to Alec. “I have no idea. But I’ll tell you one thing. There will be more people glad he’s gone than sorry about it.”
“Really?” Alec asked, eyebrows raised.
“I don’t believe it. Todd was a stellar member of the community,” I said, hoping he would spill the beans on the situation.
“I don’t care what you believe Allie McSwain. That Todd was a nightmare to work for.”
“Really? Because I think he was a saint. A saint slain in the prime of his life. What will Sandy Harbor do without him? He was a leader in this town. We’ve lost two leaders in two months’ time. I, for one, am outraged.” I was laying it on thick in hopes of getting him to talk.
Bob’s face turned two shades of red. “Todd was a nasty, hostile jerk. Oh sure, he put on another face for everyone around town to see, but those of us that worked for him, knew better. He was rude, and callous, and, and, rude!”
I tired not to look over at Alec. I knew he was taking this all in and I half-expected to see him whip out his trusty pen and notebook.
“That’s interesting. Because I heard he was the biggest giver at the Halloween bazaar. He loved those unfortunate children from the poor side of town and wanted them all to have nice winter coats,” I said, standing up and trying to get a feel for the new pair of shoes.
Bob sighed loudly as the little elderly lady decided to move on, slowly picking up her walker and placing it four inches out in front of her, and then shuffling two steps forward.
“Look, you can believe what you want. But his last words to us when we left work on Wednesday were, I hope the riff-raff from the south side of town don’t show up for free pie at the Turkey Trot, because I can hardly stand the smell of them.”
I had to admit that was rude.
“Everyone at work hated him,” he said.
“Everyone?” I asked.
He nodded his head furiously.
“It sounds like you had some real issues with Todd,” Alec said.
Bob’s balding head whipped around to look at Alec. “What? No I didn’t. I mean, sure, he was a pain, but what boss isn’t? Look, I may not have cared much for the way he did things, but I did not have a beef with him.”
“Do you know who might have?” Alec asked.
Bob shook his head. “No. I don’t have any idea. Look, I don’t want any trouble. I just need to pick up some shoes for my kids. I don’t know anything about this murder.”
“Don’t get excited, Bob. I’m just asking a question. If you can think of anything later, I’m sure you’ll let me know, right?” Alec said, very calm and matter-of-factly.
“Of course I will,” he said. “I’m going to get going now.”
“See you around,” I said to his back as he made a hasty exit.
Alec sat on the floor to try on the pair of shoes he had picked up, and I sat next to him.
“What do you make of that?” I whispered.
“I’m not sure just yet,” he said, lacing up the red and white shoe. “I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open and see where it leads.”
“I say we go down and interview everyone at the bank. See if their stories line up with Bob’s.”
Alec cleared his throat and put the shoe on. “You mean I. I’ll look into their stories.”
“Okay, but you know every ace detective needs a sidekick and I’m your woman.”
Alec snorted. “I haven’t needed one before now.”
“You know, yesterday when I took Mr. Spellman a cup of coffee, I had a little conversation with him. Not that he had much to say, mind you. But it seemed like there was something there. Like he was trying to tell me something with his eyes, and whatever it was, it scared him,” I said, ignoring his comment.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah. I like red. It’s very sexy,” I said, looking at his shoes.
“And when you’re running down the trail, sweating and stinking, sexy is important,” he said.
“You’re darn right!” I assured him.
He got up and went to look for another pair of shoes.
Todd wasn’t what he seemed, I thought.
--6--
It was late afternoon on Black Friday, and I had shopped until I dropped, and then shopped some more. Alec had left me off at home an hour earlier. I should have stayed home in front of a warm fire, but I was on the go again, and the cold air was making my cheeks freeze. I pulled up my scarf to cover the lower half of my face and watched the ground carefully as I walked. The snow had melted, but the ground was good and frozen. I held two cups of coffee in a cardboard drink carrier and scanned the area for Alec.
I could see something moving in the nearby thicket and I stopped. Was that a deer? I took another step forward and a dry twig snapped under my foot. There was a flash from behind the thicket and Alec jumped out from behind it with his gun drawn. I screamed.
“Allie!” he shouted. “What are you doing here?”
I stopped screaming at him and tried to catch my breath. “I brought you coffee,” I said weakly, holding up the drink carrier and smiled behind my scarf. My nose was running, and I sniffed.
“Seriously Allie? You could have gotten yourself killed!” Alec was frowning at me and I could see the hard set of his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and held the drink carrier out to him again.
“Why are you sneaking up behind me like that?” he asked, moving toward me.
“I didn’t want to startle you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, that worked out just fine.”
“Sorry,” I repeated. I had thought I could assist him, but I didn’t want to ask him if it was okay. He always seemed to resist my help for some reason, even though I thought I was a pretty big help to him.
He blew air out through his mouth. “Come on Allie, you shouldn’t be out here. Do you know how I would have felt if I had shot you?”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have come. But now I’m here and I brought coffee,” I said. The man just needed to focus on the fact that I had brought him coffee and he would lighten up, I was sure of it.
“Thanks,” he said reluctantly and took a cup from me. He wore a long trench coat that I thought only television detectives wore. He had black boots on and earmuffs and looked like a city slicker taking his first jaunt into the woods. I tried to suppress a smile.
“I have cream and sugar,” I said, pulling out packets from my coat pocket.
He took some of them and poured both cream and
sugar into his coffee. “Thanks again.” He sounded a little reluctant, but he was warming up to my gift of coffee.
“You’re welcome,” I said. “So have you found out anything new about the case?”
“There’s not a lot to go on. I found some spent casings, but not much else. They climbed up into this deer stand to shoot from,” he said motioning toward a deer stand. I hadn’t noticed one being here before.
“Well maybe if I help you, we can find something new,” I said, setting the drink carrier on the ground. I walked over to the deer stand and stood beneath it. We were deeper into the woods than where we had turned around when we were running the Turkey Trot the day before, but it wasn’t that deep. “Isn’t it weird that there’s a deer stand this close to the Rec Center? I mean, sure, it’s here in the woods, but you would have to expect people to be in the area at any time.”
“Yeah, it’s odd all right. The lumber used is old, but if you take a look, the nails used on it are clean. No rust. They haven’t been out here in the weather long.”
The stand was very rudimentary with a platform and a crude makeshift ladder attached. Some deer stands were fancier than this. I’d seen some that were fully enclosed with walls and a roof, and a separate platform to stand on.
“I’m not a hunter, but I wouldn’t want to have to spend a lot of time on this thing in inclement weather,” I said.
“Exactly. It appears to be very temporary and crudely put together.”
“But if you knew when your deer was going to come by, say, at a scheduled time, you would only have to spend so much time on it,” I surmised.
“Come on, let me show you,” he said. He went over to the deer stand, put his coffee cup on the ground and climbed up to the platform. He looked down at me. “Come on.”
“Me? That doesn’t look safe,” I said, shaking my head.
“You wanted to play detective,” he said. “Come on up.”
I moved over to the ladder and put my coffee on the ground, careful to find a stable place for it. Coffee was precious, and I didn’t want to spill it.
I put my gloved hands on the crude ladder and pulled myself up to the first rung. The stand shuddered with my weight. I looked up at Alec. “Is it going to hold the both of us?”